Apple iPhone 13 Pro

iPhone 13 pro almost exactly 5 years old. Had the battery replaced once under warranty. I feel like all iphones these days are built like tanks. The waterproofing helps a ton.

I'm carrying my 13 Pro without a case, to see it's Alpine Green glory and feel the matte finish on the back. It's been perfectly fine for the last almost 4 years, some minor scratches on the steel edges I fixed with a sandpaper, there is one recent scratch on the screen and that's all. Otherwise it looks good, just a bit used. Has fallen multiple times from pocket when sitting, and a dozen times from tables, few times onto pavement (that's what needed sanding). Almost every single one "case" for iPhone is a waste. Waste of material, waste of space, waste of your money, waste of user experience. You've already paid for a perfectly good phone, and then slapped some $[1]0.99 case on it to gain nothing but pain and vanity. I only had one case on a phone, that made it better - original wooden case for 1+3T. Been looking for same experience on iPhone, but it's not possible due to shape -- they are all bulky. The closest thing is carbon-fiber cases, and I had one, which saved this iPhone when I dropped it onto slanted pavement, where it slid for a few meters screen down, ruining the case, but saving the screen. Would I drop it if I wasn't using a case, that has parts sticking out, making the phone more cumbersome to use and carry? Unlikely, because it happened in the first year owning it, and I've been going caseless since then and nothing similar happened.

Thinking this through… I spent around $3500 and $4500 on my last two MBPs, but got 9 years of use out of each of them. That’s only $450/yr. But where I used to get a new iPhone every other year, I’m now on the fourth year of my 13P and it still works great. That’s only $300/yr. It’s interesting to think about.

It's up to you whether you think you need it. I'm a person who tends to accidentally throw my phone around a lot, and don't use a case (cause the added bulk makes me throw it around even more). Often on ceramic tiles, often with added velocity from me walking or hitting it in the air while trying to catch it. My iPhone 13 Pro still survived 3 years, and only had some scratches and bruises on its corners, but nothing broke (still in use, by someone else now). My iPhone 16 Pro after a year of that same treatment is almost unblemished (a small bruise on one of the corners). These are, in practice, extremely resistant to damage.

I have thought about buying one of the Pinephone things, because I want to actually own the computer in my pocket, but I have always hesitated because the hardware is always kind of ancient for these things. The Pinephone doesn’t even have 5G, so I am not even sure that my phone service will let me activate it now. What I would like is to take my existing iPhone 13 Pro and install a real Linux on it so I could guarantee decent hardware. You know, like we could do with pretty much any computer before smartphones.

I honestly would not have upgraded my iPhone 13 Pro if I could have just swapped the battery. That phone seemed to get better battery life than current models.

I've ran this on an IPHONE 13 pro (6GB) memory, QWEN 3 1.7B runs good. So local will get more intelligent for the task you want it done soon or already.

> I don't see why I would want magsafe on my phone at this point. I've been charging my 13 Pro exclusively via MagSafe for a couple of years... out of necessity. The charging port has... an issue... and I've yet to get it resolved. Honestly the only time I miss being able to use the charging port is on flights, where I'm using someone else's charging solution (i.e. a port I can plug in to). Everywhere else (bedside table, in the car, or even out and about) it's MagSafe. The only downside to this approach is that you need to be more specific about which case you buy (they don't all support MagSafe) but in terms of convenience it's night and day better.

I held on to my 13 Pro until the 17 pro came out, so I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of this is people finally going "ok maybe now" and the 16 just lands on the biggest group. I found myself using both phones as I transitioned off the old one and barely noticing the difference mind you, which is a good sign in my eyes. I think Smartphones for the last 6 to 8 years are finally very stable. More stable than a Windows 11 laptop on Hardware people in the 2000s could only dream of.

I haven't tried on a laptop but on iOS (iPhone 13 Pro) and iPadOS (iPad Air) It is quite nice on iPhone, while I agree font is smaller in iPad for readability. Although, they didn't block zooming/pinching (I hate when they do) therefore I was satisfied with the overall design.

That's been the case for several years now. Gone caseless with iPhone X, 12, and 13 Pros for years now and have gotten some scratches to the sides and a small crack on the back glass here or there, but no significant screen scratches or breaks. Some scuffing around the edges is it. Last time I broke the front screen of a phone was an HTC Evo.

I get a new iPhone as a work phone bi-yearly, and get to pick the model, with co-pay for anything above the most basic one (currently 16E). In a month or so, it'll be that time again. Last time I went with the non-Pro option was 6 years ago with the 11. Back then I regretted it, it was a clear downgrade from my previous iPhone X (which I consider the first "Pro" iPhone) - largely because of the screen, 11's LCD really wasn'g great after the X's AMOLED. Since then, I've had the 13 Pro and 15 Pro, both have been great, even though both are a bit weak in the battery department. Now I'm again considering the base 17. Not interested in the Air or the 17 Pro Max, and the 17 Pro doesn't really seem like it's worth the extra cost to me, since the base model seems really good this time around. At a glance, the things you get with the 17 Pro for extra 350€ (German pricing) are: - Unibody, but same aluminum material - Same size, same _exact_ screen (all specs match) - A19 Pro chip vs A19 - relevant for gaming (I don't) or other highly intensive applications (video editing I guess? again, not something I do a lot of) - Better camera system - arguably the only relevant thing for a daily driver here - LiDAR - very limited usefulness, in my experience having it on the 15 Pro - USB 3 with 10 Gbit speeds vs USB 2 speeds on the USB-C port - relevant if you transfer large files like ProRes video, for me it's basically only when doing local backups to the Mac to install iOS betas, so largely irr…

Camera lens angles of the 17 Pro seem strange to me. Either too wide (1x) or too narrow (4x), as seen in the live stream video, which was recorded with the iPhone 17 Pro. I am currently on the 13 Pro, I find the 3x mode ideal for portrait photos and videos. Is it only me with this impression? Could someone help me to jump back into Apple's reality distortion field?

What are you talking about? My iPhone 13 Pro works perfectly on the newest OS. It’s actually hard to justify upgrading. I know lots of people who simply don’t upgrade anymore.

All I know is that my iPhone 13 pro had better battery life than my iPhone 15 pro. Is this Apple Intelligence chip just draining my battery?

I bought a 13 Pro Max on launch day and I am still using it today. I have never kept a phone this long in my life. The cameras and performance are still fantastic. The only thing that would be nice is USB-C and USB 3.0 transfer speeds. But that is not enough for me to upgrade.